Thursday 3 April 2014

If things had gone as planned...

If things had gone as planned I had intended to work on my Farmer's Wife quilt top during my recent Lazy Bum Quilting (Virtual) Retreat!



Instead I was hand cranking my charmer quilt which is my April Lazy Bum challenge!  That one will be next on the machine!



Well I have finished stitching in or near the ditch of all 64 FW blocks  - phew fierce concentration required to not see my stitching!   Why was I doing this? 



Well I have just finished watching a Craftsy class called Design it, Quilt it with Cindy Needham!   She is one no-nonsense teacher but very clear and good I thought!  One thing she is very clear about is the need to stabilise your quilt blocks by stitching in every single ditch.  So I am trying it out on this quilt to see if I like it.  



I am almost hoping not as otherwise I am destined for oodles of ditchstitching which I find boring, challenging and tiring....even if I only finish the projects I've already started!?  Argh!  It pains me to think about it...




Anyway the boring bit is done! and the awesome fun can begin!  Cindy also taught me about adding dimension to your quilting by having some of it seem to be in the foreground and other bits in the background.  Haven't quite managed the whole caboodle but my quilting is meant to disappear behind my pieced blocks so they float on top!




My trusty aid in this venture is a polystyrene pizza base!  I'm using it as a stencil to mark out circles and then I'm Free Motion Quilting some Angela Walters designs inside the circles!  Also refreshed my memory about Angela's quilting by looking at her Craftsy class Machine Quilting Negative Space!  Love her and her designs!



I may need to repeat a few or invent some....but I am about one quarter done  and enjoying every minute of this phase!




And I'm thinking I'm not the only one who has looked at it





And liked it - cat approval is good enough for me!



24 comments:

  1. Eek i am going to start on my own farmers wife quilt and planned on machinequilting it. I am going to make all the blocks and there is no way i am going to stitch in every single ditch. Has your teacher explained why this is nescessary? I thought that basting either with thread, needles or glue or a combo of that would be sufficient to stabilise it until all the quilting is done. Respect for your stitching in every ditch!

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  2. Well for Pete's sake! I think you were born to free motion quilt! This is so beautiful!

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  3. Lovely free motion quilt. About stitching in the ditch....I avoid it whenever possible.

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  4. This looks great! I love it that the pattern comes up. The circles are beautiful!

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  5. Well Nicky your machine quilting looks amazing from where I'm sitting.
    Your quilt is gorgeous and a family heirloom from sure but do agree how boring sitiching in the ditch can be.

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  6. Good tip, this is looking amazing!

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  7. Please tell me that you're not doing the FMQ on the hand cranked machine?

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  8. Wonderful idea, it's really beautiful !

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  9. well - maybe all the hard work is worth it because it really does look amazing!

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  10. It does look amazing Nicky. I also dislike stitching in the ditch, makes my shoulders & neck ache - your FMQ in circles is genius.

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  11. I can even see the Pizza Express logo in your quilting!! LOL!! Fabulous! Have you tried a 'stitch in the ditch' foot for your machine? Makes the process much quicker. Jxo

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  12. OH MY GOODNESS! Your FMQ is just stunning. Amazing, N.

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  13. You are a very skilful FMQ quilter Nicky! This is going to be another incredible quilt!

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  14. its fabulous and all done using a vintage machine - amazing!!!!

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  15. Oh wow!! I love how the fmq-ing goes behind your blocks. That is really clever - and needless to say your actual stitching is fabulous!

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  16. black cat, white fabric!!! Almost as scary as stitching in the ditch!!! Your quilting, however, looks wonderful :)

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  17. Wow, your FMQ is amazing. I am very, very impressed!

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  18. Hmm, not sure I have the ditch patience, but the pizza quilting is looking cool

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  19. Gorgeous quilting, Nicky! I was hesitant to adopt Cindy's "every stinking seam" approach, but have found it to be worth it. I can see the difference.

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  20. wow, wow, wow, what a fantastic way to quilt your farmer's wife. It looks amazing.
    You are so good at looking outside the box..

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  21. Stitch in every single ditch?!?!?!?! You must have the patience of a saint! Your quilting is just amazing - it's going to have such fab texture when it's done! x

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  22. This is gorgeous, but it would take a lot of convincing to get me to do that much quilting!

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  23. I love all that FMQ and can't wait to see more!

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  24. I love what you did inside of your circles!!! Looks fantastic!

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